WEST CHESTER, Pa. -- With the postseason right around the corner, the nation's top team looked as if it found another gear. No. 1 and unbeaten West Chester opened a 15-3 halftime lead and outscored Kutztown in each quarter on its way to a 22-5 PSAC East victory Wednesday at Vonnie Gros Field.
Lailah ElBouazzaoui (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) and
Shannon Lake (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) combined for all of the Golden Bears' goals, with ElBouazzaoui securing her ninth hat trick of the season.
Kutztown, which has been receiving votes in the last few IWLCA Division II Poll releases, fell behind 6-0 in the first quarter before Lake scored a player-down goal set up by ElBouazzaoui at 3:45. ElBouazzaoui netted her first of the afternoon with 2:06 left to trim the Golden Ram (16-0, 11-0 PSAC East) lead to 7-2, but the Bears would get no closer.
Lake scored with a player advantage for KU's (11-4, 8-3 PSAC East) only goal of the second quarter and by the time ElBouazzaoui scored her 44th of the season to surpass her freshman season total of 43, the hosts had pulled away to a 15-4 lead.
West Chester bottled up Bears' leading scorer
Sam Graf (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills), limiting her to one shot and one point, an assist on ElBouazzaoui's final goal late in the third. It was just the third time Graf has failed to register multiple points in a game this season.
ElBouazzaoui took a game-high nine shots and Lake added seven as the duo combined for 16 of KU's 21 in the contest. ElBouazzaoui also led the team with three draw controls, while
Emily Christiansen (Ledgewood, N.J./Roxbury) forced a pair of turnovers.
Hannah Stanislawczyk and Keri Barnett had big offensive games for West Chester, accounting for half of their team's goals. The duo came in ranked first and second in the conference scoring race and maintained those positions with six and five goals, respectively. Stanislawczyk is up to 66 goals on the year and Barnett 59.
ElBouazzaoui is up to a team-high 45 goals for Kutztown after her three-goal effort.
Grace Frasso led all players with 10 draw controls for WCU, while goalie Jessica Gorr stopped 11 Golden Bear shots.
Kutztown, which has already clinched a PSAC Tournament berth, closes out the regular season at home against No. 13 East Stroudsburg this Saturday. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
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